William clayton



W. CLAYTON.

(No Model.)

VENEER PRESS..

Patented Mar. 12, 185,.

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YVLLIAM CLAYTON, OF NEl/V YORK, N. Y.

VEN EER- PRESS.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 585,673, dated March 12,1895.

Application ned March 2e, 1 894.

T0 all whom it 1v1/ty concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM CLAYTON, of New York city, in the county and State of New York, have invented a new and Improved Veneer-Press, of which the following is a full, clear, and exact description.

My invention relates to improvements in veneer presses, such as are used for pressing together several layers of veneer which have been previously glued and which it is desired to hold firmly until the glue has set.

The object of my invention is to produce a very simple machine of this kind, which is provided with improved means for making an operative connection between the two screws which work the clamping jaws, so that the screws can be simultaneously and evenly ap plied to both ends of the movable jaw of the machine, and both screws may be actuated by applying power to but one of them, the machine being also provided with improved means for making loose connection between the two screws, so that if desired the screws can be worked independently.

My invention consists of certain features of construction and combination and arrangement of parts, which will be hereinafter described and claimed.

Reference is to be had to the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, in which similar figures of "reference indicate corresponding parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a side elevation of the veneer' press embodying my invention. Fig. 2 is an end view ofthe same. Fig. 3 is a broken sectional plan on the line 3-3 of Fig. 1; and- Fig. 4 is an enlarged detail sectional view, showing the manner of attachingone of the sprocket wheels to an adjusting screw.

The machine is provided with a vlower fixed jaw 10, which rests upon feet 11 and which is convex on its upper side. At the ends of the jaw are upwardly-extending parallel guide frames 12 which are preferably provided with blocks 13 at their upper ends to form guides for the screws and supports for adjacent parts, and movable vertically in4 these guide frames is a jaw 14 which is similar in shape to the jaw 10 and has a convex lower face.

The jaws 10 and 14 are preferably of wood and when pressure is applied to them they irst come to a bearing in the middle, and as Serial No. 505,493. (No model.)

the pressure is applied to the ends of the jaw 14 it causes the jaws to gradually spring out into a straight position, that is with level adjacent faces, and consequently the material which is held between them is first squeezed in the middle and as the pressure increases the jaws are straightened out so as to squeeze every part of the material.

The jaw 14 has reduced end portions 15 which slide in the guide frames 12, and projecting from the ends of the jaw 14 are guide lugs 1G which slide'on the vertical guide rods 17 and which are normally pressed upward by the spiral springs 18 which encircle the guide rods. The guide rods are held in brackets 19 which are secured to the ends of the jaw 10 and to the blocks 13.

Projecting downward through each block 13 is a screw 20 which turns in a suitable nut 2l and which is socketed at the end of the jaw 14, as shown at 22 in Figs. 1 and 2; and the screw has at its upper end a hand wheel 23 by which it may be turned. On each screw is a sprocket wheel 24 and these are connected by a chain 25 so that when one screw is turned the other can be similarly turned and both ends of the jaw 14 moved down or up at a uniform rate of speed.

To provide for either a tight or loose connection between the sprocket wheel and the screw, each sprocket wheel is provided with a pivoted spring-pressed latch 26, see Fig. 4, which is held on the hub of the wheel, and to this latch is secured a bolt 27 which projects inward through the hub and is adapted to engage either the groove 28 or the groove 29 in the shank of the screw. The groove 2S is smooth and unbroken so that when the bolt 27 is in it the sprocket wheel turns loosely on the screw shank, but the groove 29 has in its back a hole 30 which is adapted to receive the bolt 27 and, consequently, when the bolt is placed in engagement with the groove 29` it slips into the hole 30, thus locking the sprocket wheel to the shank of the screw.

It will be seen that by pushing inward on the lower end of the latch the bolt may be pulled out so as to permit the vertical adjustment of the wheel, and this enables the bolt to be brought into engagement with either of the grooves. In operating the machinethe glued veneer is placed between the ICO two jaws and the screws 2O turned down so as to force the upper jaw firmly upon the veneer and the veneer is left in this Way until the glue has set, after which the upper jaw is raised and the veneer removed.

Having thus described my invention, ,I claim as new and desire to secure by Letters Patentl. A veneer press comprising a fixed ja'w,'

guide frames at the ends of the fixed jaw, a movable jaw held in the guide frames, screws connected with the ends of the movable jaw,

2. The combination with the oppositely atL ranged jaws, of the screws for forcing the jaws together, each of said screws being provided with a groove having an opening in its back wall, the sprocket wheels on the screws, the spring -pressed latches on the sprocket wheels carrying bolts adapted to enter the grooves and engage the holes therein, and a chain connecting the two sprocket wheels, substantially as described.

3, The combination with the screws, each of which-is yprovided with a smooth annular groove, and a groove having an opening in its back wall, of the sprocket wheels adjustable on the screws, the chain connecting the sprocket wheels, 'and the latches on the sprocket wheels carrying bolts,the said bolts being adapted to hold thesprocket wheels in a loose connection with the screws, or in a locked engagement therewith, substantially as described.

WILLIAM CLAYTON.

Witnesses:

`LLXLBERT H. DAVIS, JOHN FAUsT. 

